PopPorn

When did pornography become a par t of mainstream culture?

Long gone are the days when Playboy and Penthouse were dirty magazines stashed somewhere in your dad’s bathroom, or under your brother’s mattress, to be discovered and consumed with a feminine sense of wonder (oh my god, am I going to look like THAT when I grow up? Ewww!). It seems to be that porn is now everywhere.

What red blooded occupant of the Western world hasn’t seen a pornographic image? Watched a video, seen an mpeg? I’d say…oh, the only people who haven’t are folks without a computer.

And we’ve become so accepting of something that for years was seen as exploitative of women. Women have even become accepting of it, and now voluntarily participate it, in the name of embracing their sexuality (and in making a buck or three). You don’t think it’s still just a teensy bit degrading…to maybe say that the only thing worthwhile about a woman is what she looks like naked at one particular point in time? I mean, you aren’t looking at porn to hear someone’s voice, or to read her resume, or to find out what her favorite books are.

So, years ago the big scandal was Rob Lowe – remember – so coked up he couldn’t get it up filming himself with two girls (wasn’t one underage?). Now we have every half baked faux celebrity leaking a sex tape to boost their image. Does this predict a trend? Does this mean that in ten years regular people will think nothing of…say, putting a little video of themselves having sex with their ex out on their match.com profile? As a way of advertising, if you will.

In an age where we are literally, at all ages, inundated by sexual imagery – Bratz dolls, children’s cartoons where characters have anatomically ridiculous proportions, Kotex commercials, Cialis commercials, Viagra commercials, “chat line” commercials, people smooching over diamond rings, etc. etc. Doesn’t anything remain private? Doesn’t anything remain special and just between two people, or is it all fair game for mass distribution for mass entertainment?